Next week, SpaceX will attempt the first-ever private spacewalk, testing ground-breaking gear like ultra-thin spacesuits and an airlock-free cabin in one of the riskiest missions to date for Elon Musk’s space company.
Two SpaceX employees, a retired military fighter pilot, and a billionaire businessman are set to launch on a modified Crew Dragon craft on Tuesday. Two days later, they will go on a 20-minute spacewalk that will take them 434 miles (700 km) into space.
The five-day Polaris Dawn mission by SpaceX will travel in an oval-shaped orbit, passing as close to Earth as 190 km (118 miles) and as far away as 1,400 km (870 miles), marking the furthest human space travel since the conclusion of the Apollo moon program in 1972.
The crew, which includes billionaire Jared Isaacman, will travel in a Crew Dragon vehicle modified to open its hatch door in a space vacuum, a novel feature that eliminates the need for an airlock. The crew will wear SpaceX’s new, slimline spacesuits.
In an interview, retired NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman stated, “They’re pushing the envelope in multiple ways.” “They’re also heading to an environment with far higher altitude and more intense radiation than anything we’ve visited since Apollo.
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